1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to filtering systems and more particularly pertains to a new filtering device for an irrigation system for keeping clogging particles from reaching fluid dispersing orifices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Irrigation systems, such as those used for watering agricultural crops, often draw water from sources that may include particles that can clog the orifices of sprinkler devices used as part of the irrigation system. The water may be drawn from, for example, sources such as wells, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and even animal and human waste lagoons, and the water may contain particles of sand, rust flakes, paint flakes, plant seeds, other plant materials, among other things.
Clogged orifices on the sprinkler heads can be difficult to detect since the sprinkler head is often positioned relatively close to the ground and amongst the plants of the crop, and thus clogged heads can go unnoticed which may cause crop growth to suffer. Even if the clogged orifice is detected, disassembly of the sprinkler from the rest of the water supply system is required to clear the particles from the head.
The problem of clogged irrigation sprinkler orifices has become increasingly significant as newer, more efficient and water conserving methods of water application have been developed that employ greater numbers of sprinkler heads with smaller sprinkler orifice sizes on the sprinkler heads. These factors have not only made the sprinklers more prone to clogging, but also increased the numbers of sprinklers to monitor. Illustratively, a center pivot irrigation system for a quarter section (about 160 acres) of agricultural land may have between about 150 and about 260 sprinkler heads.
A further challenge when employing filtering systems is how to flush or clear the debris that have accumulated in or on the filter on a regular basis so that fluid flow in the irrigation system is not degraded, and thus effectively just transferring the clogging problem from the sprinkler head to the filtering system. This must be accomplished while maintaining the filtering system close enough to the sprinkler head to protect the sprinkler head from debris that is already in the irrigation system.
In these respects, the filtering device for an irrigation system, according to the present invention, substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of keeping clogging particles from reaching fluid dispersing orifices.